I turn to you
by Sister Golden Hair
Summary: (Completed!)Ace's cousin moves in with him. What will happen when she fall's for his best friend?This story focus's mostly on the Cobras. Please R/R!!!
1. Chapters 1 thourgh 7

Chapter 1 

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    I hate trains. Not just a little bit, I mean, like with a passion. It mostly because I get motion sickness, but also because trains mean travel and travel means leaving something behind. This time I was leaving a very big something behind. My whole life as I knew it. The year was 1960 and I was 15.

My mother had run off with an umpire when I was fourteen, and my dad had just died of a heat attack a week ago. I can't really say I was too sorry to see him go, he was a workaholic and we weren't very close.

 I was being shipped off to live with his brother Junior's wife Polly, and my cousin Ace. Uncle Junior had been sent to prison about a year ago, on account of he was a bad alcoholic and had caused an accident when he was driving drunk. Aunt Polly and Ace lived in a little town in Oregon, called Castle Rock. It was about a four hour train ride from where we lived in Pine Grove, Idaho. I only had a few bags with me on the train that day, since most of my stuff had been sent ahead of time.I had talked to Ace on the phone the day before and he told me my stuff had already arrived and my room was all set up.

"My friends and I painted it pale blue, just like you wanted."He told me.

Anyway, back to the train ride, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew someone was shaking me and saying my name.

"Martina Merrill?" I looked up to see a young guy smiling down at me.

"What? Oh, I mean, yes, I'm Marti." I mumbled

"The conductor told me to wake you, to say we'll be in Castle Rock in 10 minutes."

"Ok, Thanks." I said. I don't think he heard me, because he was already walking away.

10 minutes!!!My new life was starting a lot sooner than I wanted it to. Ace was supposed to be at the station to pick me up. What if he wasn't there? I'd never been to Castle Rock before, how would I find my way to the house? Grabbing my purse, I pulled out a compact mirror. Looking back at me was a strawberry blonde, with bright green eyes, and a clear complection.Even though Ace and me are only cousins; I could pass for his younger sister. As the train pulled to a stop, I grabbed my 2 bags and fought to get in the walkway. Hopping off the train, I looked around. I saw lots of people, but no Ace.

"MARTI!!!"I turned to my left, to see Ace running towards me followed by the cutest boy I'd ever seen.

"Hi Ace! Well, it's good to see you too!" I laughed as he swept me up in a big bear hug.

"Here let me get your bags." he said, picking them up,"how was your ride?"

"Well, I didn't get sick, if that's what you mean." I told him.

"Um, Ace....."The other boy said.

"Oh, yeah! Marti, this is my best friend Eyeball Chambers."

Eyeball smiled at me. He was tall and muscular, with curly, brown hair, and velvety brown eyes.

"Hello, um, Eyeball" I said. He smiled again.

"Hey."

"Well" Ace said "Let's get to my car, and head home. We have to stop by Eyeball's house first though."

"That's ok"I said I followed them to a beat-up black ford convertible.

"This your car?" I asked Ace

"Yeah"he had begun to put my bags in the trunk"You can sit in the middle,betwen me and Eyeball."

"Ok"Eyeball held the door open for me and I climbed in. As he settled in beside me, I could smell his 

colonge.I'm not good at identifying men's cologne, but I think it was Stetson. Eyeball smiled down at me. God, he was dreamy!!!

"Ok, we ready to hit the road?" Ace asked as he climbed in. When he started the car, the radio blared on. One of my favorite songs,' 'My Boy Lollipop' was playing and I reached down to turn it up.

"My boy Lollipop, you make my heart go giddy-up.Oh,oh,oh,your my lollipop."I sang.

Ace started to laugh."I take it you like this song?" I nodded.

"Don't worry,I do to."Eyeball told me."But I'm glad it's over, cause were at my house."

I stared at the one level white house.It was kind of run down,and there were four boys,about 13, sitting on the front steps.Ace sneered at them.'Man,they must be pretty annoying to make Ace hate them'I thought.The boy's stared at me as Ace and Eyeball disappered in the house.

"Who the heck are you?"asked a geeky looking blonde one.

"Teddy!Be nice,she's a girl!"another one,very cute,with dark brown hair."Sorry,he's rude.I'm Gordie Lachance,by the way."I smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Gordie. I'm Marti Merrill, Ace's cousin. And the rest of you are?"

The rude one said"I'm Teddy Duchamp."A chunky short one smiled at me and said

"Vern Tessio"The tallest and cutest one looked at me.There was something familiar about him.

"Chris Chambers" was all he said. That was what was familiar about him! He was Eyeball's little brother!

"Eyeball's brother?"I asked 

"Yep"

I leaned against Ace's car.Teddy stared at me even more intently.I had a feeling it was because of my short,lowcut sundress.

"Ace has a cool car, huh?"He asked me.

"Yeah,he does."

"You like fast cars?"I decided to give the kid a thrill.I'm sure it was one of the few he ever got.

I leaned flirtatously towards him.

"I like fast *everything*"I replied with a wink and a smile.The other three looked at each other then at Teddy,whose face was turning very red ,very quick.

"Oh my God."was all he said.Just then Ace and Eyeball came back out.

"Ready to go, Marti? The rest of my gang is gonna meet us at the house."Ace said as he climbed into his car.

"Yeah,I'm ready."i said "bye boys."I waved to the four on the steps.

"See you around, Marti." Teddy said.

"Not if I see you first"With that we drove off.

Chapter 2 

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      When we pulled into the drive way of my new home, I couldn't believe it. The house was nice, with  two stories, a cream color, and dark green shutters. Ace pointed to the third to the last window on the second floor.

"See, that's your room." He said "Let's go inside and I'll show you." He opened the front door.

"MOM, WE'RE HOME!" I heard Aunt Polly's footsteps. She rushed in and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Martina, sweetheart, we're so glad you're here!" she said

"Mom, everybody calls her Marti now." Ace said. Aunt Polly smiled.

"My mistake. Sorry Marti." She said.

"Its ok Aunt Polly. I'm just glad you let me come to live here." I told her.

"Don't mention it dearie. I'm sure you're tired, so I'll let you kid's get on upstairs." She said. Ace lead me and Eyeball up the

stairs and down the hall. I held my breath. This was to be my new sanctuary, my safe haven. What would it be like?

Ace opened the door and to my surprise, there were four boys sitting on my bed!

"Who are they?!!!" I asked Eyeball.

"Those are our friends, the other members of the Cobras." He replied." I'll let Ace have the honor of introductions."

Ace sighed."Ok, this is Billy, Charlie,Vince,and Fuzzy. I started to laugh.

"Whose who?" I said. Eyeball smiled and pointed towards the chunky brown haired one.

"Billy" he said "Now the weirdo sprawled out all over your clean bed is Charlie" Charlie was skinny, and blonde.

Eyeball continued" This is Vince." he gestured towards a very tall guy with a blonde buzz cut. "And, last and least, Fuzzy!"

Fuzzy was a strange looking one. He had,well,fuzzy black hair and *gobs* of zits.

"Hi" I said to them. They all just kinda nodded.

"Well" Ace said "What do ya think of your room?" For the first time I looked around.The walls were pale blue, and  a white day bed was against the farthest wall,covered with my blue comforter with white flowers.Matching curtains hung in the windows. A desk faced one wall, and a dresser faced another.Finally a vanity and a bookcase was near the closet.

"It's really nice." I said.

"We all fixed it up." Billy said, speaking for the first time. "All you have to do is put away your clothes and put your posters up."

"Well, thank you very much." I looked around the room again.

 "Ok, well, then I guess I'll put my clothes and stuff away. Where are my records?" 

"Over there" Ace pointed. With that the six of them left. I grabbed out my Frankie Avalon record and turned it up.In a matter of seconds 'Venus' was playing and I began to put my things away. 

"Venus if you will,please send a little girl for me to thrill." I sang along with Frankie. When the song ended I could hear the boy's voices through the wall,so I guessed Ace's room was next door. Then I heard one of them say something that made my stomach twist into knots.

"Jesus,Ace,you didn't tell us Marti would be such a doll!" I finished putting my clothes away, hung my posters, and headed to Ace's room. Since I was nervous, I knocked softly on the door.

Some one yelled "What's the password?" Like I was gonna let that stop me!

"How about: It's childish to have a password so you best open the friggin door,'for I get real P.Oed!" With that I shoved the door open, only to find the boy's scrambling to put out cigarettes and shoving bottles of beer under the bed.

"Well, Ace, old boy, ya just gonna sit there or are you gonna invite me into your little love shack?" So I wasn't so nervous anymore! "And you ain't gotta hid your beer and ciggies from me, I'll like you a lot better if you pass 'em on over this way!"

They all looked shocked; except for Eyeball he looked at me in a way every girl likes to be looked at.It was this soft look, like 

He'd never seen a girl before. 

"Well, what you waitin for pass the Frankie Avalon-in-training a beer!" he said. Oh,my God they had heard me singing! I decided to make a joke out of it.

"Eyeball, be a *doll* like I am and don't mention trains." I said. His face turned red and the others started to laugh.

"Good joke, Miny Marti !" Fuzzy said as he handed me a beer.

"Miny Marti? What in *thee* blue hell does that mean?"I demanded, taking a swig from the bottle.

"You know," said Charlie, "Like a store, a Miny Mart. And also Miny because you're younger than us and Marti because that's your name…….." He trailed off.

"Ok, we get the point Char." Said Vince lighting another cigarette

"You know Marti I Bet your gonna start hangin 'round with us, huh? Then you'll be actin just like us!" Billy told me. I glanced at Ace to see what his reaction to all this was.He wasn't smiling; in fact he looked kind of mad.

"So what was up with that quiet bit you goons pulled on me earlier, you all had me thinking you was a buncha dopes?!" I asked

Ace finally spoke up "They didn't want you to see what  idgits they were right off." Fuzzy looked around and shouted:

"DOG PILE ON ACE!!!" then he jumped on him,the others quickly following.

"Come on, Miny Marti don't be a priss"Fuzzy told me. Vince jumped off the pile and pulled me on to it Of course, I landed on Eyeball. I think it was our first *real moment*.It didn't last long, because of shouts like," Get off me you fags!" and "that was my leg you just pinched!"

 "Let me up, you homo's!" I said,but I was laughing "I'm not like that!" Ok,childish, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, right?

"Your not like what?" Charlie teased.What do I say, what do I say?

" Duh, I barely know any of you,except for Ace, and I don't want none of you to even think about crawlin all over me!" Eyeball looked uncomfortable "Ace man, I better go. See ya Marti, see ya guys. Then he was gone. The others left soon after that.

Chapter 3 ~ 

       After, I'd been in Castle Rock for about a week, I made friends with a neighbor girl named Angel. It was then that I found out why the people in this town looked at my sweet cousin Ace and his loveable friends with so much disgust. I heard rumors on how they beat up younger kids, smoke, drank, and boosted cars.Romors on how they'd kill you if you looked at them wrong. I learned some of it from Angel, she told me by accident one day.

"So how can you stand to live in the same house with Ace?" she asked I looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, doesn't he beat up on you and stuff?" she looked puzzled.

"NO!!! How could you say that?" I yelled

"Well, everyone in this town is afraid of the Cobras, mostly Ace and Eyeball, their the worst." I got up.

"I have to go home now."

"You didn't know did you?"Oh, Marti I'm so sorry! I thought you knew……" her voice trailed off.

"OF COURSE I DIDN'T KNOW!!!" I shouted then I ran out of her house, down the street,and into my own house.

I saw Ace lying on the couch watching TV.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!!!!?" Ace looked at me

"Tell you what?" but I know he knew what I was talking about.

"Oh,come off it Ace,you know what I'm talking about! Why didn't you tell me you and your friends were the most feared gang in Oregon?" Ace looked down at his feet.

 "Marti, I was going to tell you, I swear, I just didn't want to scare you. I will tell you this though. Once the people in this town find out you kin to me they won't want nothing to do with you. I cried even harder.

"Oh, Ace, I'll just be friendless, then. Your like my brother, I'd never deny you. I'll just hang out with you and the Cobras."

"I don't know about that, but I'm glad you think of me as your brother. I love you, Marti." he said.

"I love you too, Ace. And I *am* going to hang around with you guys.I'd like to get to know um,a few of your friends better."

Ace gave me a knowing smile "Yeah, well, if you insist, just don't blame me if everyone starts saying I'm leading you down the wrong path... Hey, I was about to head over to Eyeball's.You wanna come?" he winked.

"Oh, Ace stop picking on me!" I said

"Admit it Marti, you have a crush on him!" he said.

"Don't worry Eyeball or none of the other guys suspect. I just know you pretty damn good!" he said

"Ok, Ace, you got me. Just don't tell *anyone* or I'll kill ya!"Ace smiled

"Deal, but, Marti, I don't want you to get involved with him. He's not good enough for you. Nobody in this town is."

"I won't Ace." I reassured him.

A month later I still hadn't admitted to Eyeball that I liked him, even though, just like Billy had predicted, I hung out with The Cobras everyday and had picked up their bad habits. I had started to cuss, drink beer, and to smoke. They taught me how to play mailbox baseball and showed me where they liked to hang out at. Then one day it happened. I saw why everyone was so afraid of them. We had just come into town in Ace's car and were all piling out of it when some of those jerk offs from The View walked by. The tallest one looked at me.

"Hey, baby, why don't you drop those hoods and come with us.Oh, I for got you can't drop 'em your one of them!"

I shot him a dirty look.

"Oh yeah,*real*original douche bag!" Eyeball said. Ace was being quiet,which was unlike him.He had stopped walking and was staring at those guys.

"Whats a matter Merrill? You just figure out the girl you were messin round with last night is your cousin?"One of the others said.  "No you knew that the whole time!"

"Shut the hell up, Rogers." Ace said.I noticed he had his fist clenched and the other Cobras looked prepared to fight.

"And if I don't?" Rogers asked. Ace pulled a switchblade from his pocket and flipped it open.

"Then you'll have to answer to this." I couldn't believe it! Angel had told me people were starting to say maybe I was a good influence on The Cobras.I guess not.

"Your not the only one who has a knife." Rogers said pulling out his own. He walked up to me and flipped it open. I think that's when I lost it. Screaming like a banshee, I kicked him where it counts,right between the legs.Rogers fell to the ground,howling in pain.I held up my fist to the others.

"I'll kill all of ya, I swear I will." I said They didn't look to scared until they remembered The Cobras were backing me up.

They helped Rogers to his car and they drove off. The Cobras turned to me.

"Mart we are *so* proud of you!!!" Vince yelled,patting my back. The others were smiling ,too.

"Yep, we are." Said Eyeball "I guess this makes you a real Cobra!" Me, I Cobra! That was probably the happiest day of my life. I looked at Ace.

"What do you think Ace? Am I good enough to be one of you guys?" I asked. Ace looked at me his mouth wasn't smiling but his eyes were.

 "Hell yes!" he said. The others nodded. I'm not sure how they felt about the first girl Cobra.

"Well,you know what this means." Fuzzy said "We got to give her the tattoo." Tattoo? What the heck were they talking about?

"Now wait one god-forsaken minute……" but that was as far as I got before they were ushering me back into the car.

We headed out to Billy's place. He wanted to show us the fireworks he had bought, since 4th of July was in a week. We hardly hung around his house, so when I felt the call of nature I wasn't sure what to do.

"Um, can one of you show me where the restroom is?"

"I will." Said Eyeball. We walked towards the house.

"Don't follow her into the toilet, Eyeball!" Charlie shouted from behind us.

 "Oh, shut up!" I yelled back at him.

"He is so immature." Eyeball said 

"I know" Eyeball looked down at his feet, then back up at me

"Um ,Marti, there's somthin I been wantin to ask ya."

"Well, spit it out." I told him Was he going to ask what I had been praying he'd ask every since I saw him?

"Well, I was,um,I was just wonderin if you wanted to hang out sometime? You know, with none of the others around. Like, um, just me and you?" Ok,so that's not exactly what I've been dreaming of,but it's a start right?

"Sure Eyeball. That sounds nice." I hoped I didn't sound as shaky as I felt.Eyeball smiled.

"When do you want to?"

"Whenever you do" He mumbled something I couldn't understand.

"Beg Pardon?" I asked.

"Never mind. Oh,guess what? I have enough money saved to buy a used car!"

"Eyeball,that's fabulous!" ,I exclaimed, "I wonder why Ace or one of the others didn't tell me about it?" Eyeball looked embarrassed.

"That's because I haven't told them yet. I wanted you to be the first to know."

"Oh", I said, "well, which car are you going to buy? He looked at his feet again.

"Well that's something else I wanted to ask. Will you go with me to pick one out tomorrow? Don't tell the others though; I want to surprise them, ok?" I was really surprised.

"Ok sure. Where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"Well, the car I want is in a  lot in Harlow, I thought we'd take a train there, and walk to the car lot." He replied.

'Ok, calm down, Marti he doesn't know you hate trains and besides this is your chance to be alone with Eyeball.' I coached myself.

"Sure, I'll go. What time will you be at my house?" He looked around.

"Well, my old man's dropping us off at the station on his way to work, so we'll be there about 6 in the morning."

"Ok what should I tell Ace?" Eyeball looked thoughtful.

"Tell your Aunt the truth and tell her not to tell Ace. I'm sure you'll be up before he is."

Chapter 4 

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     The next morning, I was up and at 'em at 5:00. I had told Aunt Polly where I was going the night before and she promised to cook up something good to tell Ace. I dressed quickly, grabbed some cash, and hurried down the stairs for something to eat. Just as I was finishing, I heard a car pull up outside.

"Aunt Polly, I'm going.  "I said with that I ran to the car. When I got there Eyeball climbed out and let me in the middle.

I had never met his dad before, but he looked nice enough so I introduced myself.

"How do you do Mr. Chambers, I'm Martina Merrill."

"So your the famous Marti heard so much about." Was all he said. Before I knew it we were at the station.

"Your dad's pretty nice, Eyeball." I told him as we waited in line to get the tickets.

"Yeah, when he's actually sober." Was Eyeball's reply. After we boarded the train,we talked the whole time. He told me about how his dad was so abusive, about the time The Cobras all got arrested for theft, and about the time last summer when they went to get that dead body from beside the river, only to have his little brother and his friends to take it from them. 'That explains why Ace hates them so much.'I thought. I told him about my mom and the traveling musician, and about my dancing. I guess I should take the time to explain about that. See, I used to dance ballet,but decided to give it up when momma left.

 "Marti I had no idea you were a dancer!" Eyeball exclaimed. I sort of smiled.

"Yeah, well, you know, I didn't want to sound like a braggart."  He nodded.

"I guess I can understand that. How long have you been dancing?"

"Well", I said, "about twelve years." Eyeball looked impressed. It only took about 45 minutes to get to Harlow, so it was about7:30 when we arrived. It took about twenty minutes to walk to the car lot. When we got there, Eyeball steered me in the direction of an old car. It was red, with a pop top, and orange flames down the sides.

"Well, whatcha think?" he asked. I looked at him.

"Eyeball its wonderful. I love it!"  It really was very nice. He must have saved a long time to buy it. Which he decided to do.

We left the car lot and decided to get something to eat at a small diner called 'April's Place' After we ordered I asked Eyeball something that I had wondered since the first day we met.

"Whats your real name?" He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"Richard. Richard Alexander." He said. I rolled the name over in my mind.

"Richard Alexander Chambers" I said "I like that, it sounds dignified. So why do they call you Eyeball?"

"Well," he said, "It's because when I get nervous or upset my eye gets kinda jumpy."

"You mean like it is now?" I asked him. He blushed. He looked so sweet, and I didn't realize how much he meant to me until right then.

"You know your one of my best friends and I don't have friends who are *girls*. I really like you a lot, Marti." It was my turn to blush.

"Well, Rich I really like you a lot, too. Is it ok if I call you Rich?" I asked him.

"Um, yeah it's fine, but just when it's you and me.  The other guys would probably never let me live it down." He said. Well, that was understandable. They always picked on me about my name being Martina. I can't say I blame 'em there though. What 

the heck kind of a name is *Martina*. I fell like I should be in there along with Mickey and Minnie. Any way back to the story.

After that we headed back to

Castle Rock. As we drove along the highway, I found the local rock and roll station WKTI. When the song 'Earth Angel' began to play Eyeball (excuse me, Rich) started to sing along.

"Earth Angel, Earth Angel say you'll be mine. My darling dear I love you all the time. I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you."

He had a beautiful voice, all rich and deep. I was very surprised. I mean, you don't expect the toughest guy in town to sing like he's Frankie Avalon, but hey who am I to judge? I did notice, though while he gave his little concert, he was watching me out of the corner of his eye.I guess he thought I hadn't noticed. The radio droned on and we didn't speak. Finally we passed a sign that said Castle Rock-5 miles.It was only about 10:00, but it felt much later. (A/N- Recognize that line from anywhere?!)

We pulled into his driveway, with him honking the horn. His whole family(minus his Pop)came out of the house to see what was going on. 

"Boss, Rich, is this your new car?" Nick, who was ten and the next to the youngest, asked.

"No dummy he just drove it home." Said Chris. 

"Christopher, don't tease your brother." ,scolded Mrs.Chambers, "Hello Marti, its nice to see you." She said to me.

"Its nice to see you to Mrs.Chambers." I told her. Seven year old Shelly ,the youngest and the only girl, smiled up at me.

"Hiya Marti." I looked down at her. She looked like a younger female version of Rich. (A/N- I'm going to have Marti calling him Rich in her thoughts and when the other Cobras aren't around. Just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't be confused.)

"Hello, Shelly, how's life treating you?" she just nodded her response.

"So Richie, why didn't you tell us your chick was going to go with you? Was it so you guys could have some *private time*? Huh? Was it?" Chris asked. I blushed a deep red color.

"Shut-up you little fag. She is not my *chick*! We're just friends! Isn't that right, Marti?" he asked me

"Yeah, that's right." I told them. Rich looked around.

"I told the rest of the gang we'd meet them at 10:30, at Billy's house, so we better get headed over there." He told me.

I didn't realize how nervous I was until then. What if Ace was really mad at me for going with Rich, after he told me not to get involved with him? 'Wait a sec, Marti, Ace isn't your Pop, he can't tell you who and who not to get involved with.' I thought to myself. I didn't have long to think about it, cause Billy's house is only about a mile and a half from Rich's. I could feel my stomach jolt as we pulled in to Billy's driveway. The other Cobras were sitting on the front porch and they came running when they saw us in the new car. Fuzzy was the first to reach us.

"Oh, Eyeball, man this car its…it's…." For once in his life, Fuzzy was at a loss for words. Vince jumped in where Fuzzy had stopped.

"It's boss!! Totally, sincerely boss!" he said. I glanced at Ace. Then I was sorry that I had. The way Ace was glaring at Rich, if looks could kill; he would have dropped dead on the spot. Then Ace switched his gaze to me. His expression softened, but not by much. 

 "Well, Ace, man, Whatcha think?" Rich asked. Ace tried to smile, but it came off more as a grimace. 

"Its,uh, nice Eyeball. Real nice. But Marti and me gotta go. Come on Marti. Later guys." I smiled at Rich and waved at the others. Ace and I climbed into his car. I knew what was coming. We were half way down the block before he turned to me.

"What in the heck do you think your doing???!!!" he yelled "I thought I told you not to get involved with him!" Now that made me mad.

"For your information, Ace Junior Merrill, Rich and I ARE NOT INVOLVED!!!!" I yelled the last part at him.

"Great, now he has you calling him Rich. He better not have touched you, Marti, I'll kill him, I swear I will!" I started to laugh. I couldn't help it.

"Ace, get a hold of yourself! Eyeball and me are *FRIENDS*. Only friends. You're going off like a lunatic, and over what? So we were alone together for a few hours." I shook my head.

"Yeah. In a car. With a big back seat." He said.Ok, what exactly did my cousin think I was? I mean, come on, did he think me and Rich were gonna do? Ok I know exactly what he thought me and Rich were gonna do. But still.

"Goodness Gracious, Ace. Ok, we were alone in a car with a big back seat. We stopped to eat, and we listened to the radio and we held conversation like normal people.*That's*all*that*happened*.Now *drop*It.*" Ace didn't look happy about my instructions to drop it, but for whatever reason he did. Almost.

"Ok, but Marti, I don't like this thing with you and Eyeball. You're too good for him and if I find out he's moving on you, I will kill him." Something came over me when he said that.

"Ace, just shut up. I don't want to hear it. You have no right to tell me who I can and cannot get involved with. I'm a big girl and I'm capable of making my own choices." With that he did drop it, and we drove the rest of the way home in silence.

Chapter~5

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      Rich called later that evening. It was a good thing I was the only one home, because he was calling to speak to me.

After we said our 'hellos' and 'what are you doings', his voice got this urgent sound in it.

"Marti, I have to talk to you. Can I pick you up in about 10 minutes?" My heart pounded against my ribcage. 

"Of, course Rich. I'll be waiting." I ran upstairs threw on a snug white shirt, a pair of tight blue jeans, and my PF Flyers. I pushed my hair back in a headband, and applied some lipstick. Then I ran back downstairs and almost collided with Aunt Polly.

"Where are you going in such a hurry? And where's Ace?" she asked. I could tell she had just gotten in from work, because she was still dressed in her nurse's whites and smelled like the hospital. 

 "Um, Eyeball says he needs to talk to me, and he's picking me up in a few minutes, and I have no idea where Ace is. He left about an hour ago and he didn't say where he was going." Aunt Polly shook her head and muttered 

"That boy." Just then a car horn honked outside. I looked out the window, it was Rich.

"Um, Aunt Polly, Eyeball's here, it is ok if I go with, right?" 'Please say yes, please say yes.' I prayed silently. 

"Well, honey, I don't see why not. Just be sure to be in before 10." I looked at the clock. It read 6:30.  That was 3 and a half hours from now. That should be plenty of time. Rich honked the horn again.

"Ok, thanks Aunt Polly, bye." I ran out the door and to Rich's car without a further thought.

"Hey." I said, hopping in. Rich just nodded in return.

"Um, what did you want to tell me?" I asked. 

"I'll tell you when we get there." Was all he replied. I shook my head.

"Where exactly are we going? And this time would you please look at me when you answer?" He looked at me.

"I'm sorry, Marti. You just looked so beautiful sitting there that I was afraid if I looked at you, I'd run off the road."

I blushed. I hated myself just then. Why did I have blush every time he complimented me? Why? 

"Anyway, where are we going?" I asked again. He looked at me then back at the road.

"Stanton Point." Was all he would say. I felt a little sick. Stanton Point was where kids went when they wanted to party or make-out; or more. What kind of talking did Rich have in mind, exactly? We where driving on a narrow tree lined road, up a hill. I had never been in this part of Castle Rock before. It was very pretty. When we reached the top of the hill, Rich looked around.

"Well, here we are, Stanton Point." I looked around We were parked in a clump of trees. Dusk was just beginning to set and if you looked out the front window you could see all of Castle Rock. It was beautiful. I told Rich so.

"Not as beautiful as you." Then he scooted across the seat and pulled me closer to him. I looked up into his deep brown eyes, one of which was twitching slightly. I giggled.

"Are you nervous, Rich? Your eye is twitching." He just smiled and brought his lips to mine. This is what I had been dreaming about for a month. His lips were so soft and inviting. He pulled away gently.   

"You don't mind do you?" he asked. Mind? MIND?? Of course I didn't mind!!! But I just shook my head and said 

"I don't mind." He kissed me again, harder this time. I felt his tongue touch my lips and opened my mouth slightly. He brought his tongue in slowly and rubbed it gently against mine. We kissed for along time and when we pulled away this time Rich leaned back against his door, and I leaned back against him, resting my head on his chest. I looked up in his eyes and remembered why we were here.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" I asked, "Or was that just a ploy to get me alone with you?" Rich blushed.

"No, No I really did want to tell you something. Well, ask you something is more like it." 

"Well, ask," Was my reply. Rich looked into my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Marti, will you go steady with me and be my girlfriend? I really like you a lot. More than I've ever liked anyone." I will never forget that moment. A light breeze was blowing through the car, fireflies were blinking everywhere, and the song 'Unchained Melody' was playing on the radio. Then I realized Rich was holding a ring. I looked at him.

"Yes, Rich, I'll go steady with you. I like you more that anyone else, too." He smiled and slipped the ring on my finger. I looked down at it. 

"I know it's not much," he said. "But, I think its pretty and I'd be the happiest guy around if you'd wear it." I smiled at him.

"Oh, Rich it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Of, course I'll wear it. Thank you." He smiled back. We lay there together for a long time. I heard the radio say it was 9:30, and I told Rich what Aunt Polly said about being home before 10.

"Well, as much as I don't want to, I guess we better get headed back." He said. Just then something hit me.

"Wait! What are we gonna tell Ace and the guys? Should we tell them we're going steady?" Rich looked thoughtful.

"Well, they're gonna find out sooner or later. And better sooner than later." He told me. "So go ahead and tell 'em."

What would they all think? The Cobras were all very overprotective of me. They said I was like their little sister. What would they think of me and Rich? Would they be upset? I knew Ace would be mad, especially after our shouting match in his car this morning. Rich and I didn't talk on the way home, but when we pulled up in front of my house he gave me another passionate kiss and whispered,

"Goodnight, Marti. I'll call you in the morning, ok?" I nodded and got out of his car. He roared down the street as I made my way into the house. Ace was sitting on the chair by the front window. 

"Where have you been?" he demanded, "And don't think I didn't see who you were with, cause I did." I glared right back at him.

"Good for you Ace, I'm glad your visions in order. Now I'm very tired, can I please go to bed?"  

"No," he said, "Not till you tell me what is going on between you and Eyeball." I stared at him.

"You wanna know what's going on between me and Eyeball? Fine I'll tell you." I held out my finger with the ring on it. "We're going steady, that's what's going on between us. Happy now that you've meddled in my personal life?" Ace's face turned a reddish purple color.

"I told you not to get involved with him, and now you're going steady! This is great, just great!"

"Yeah, it is great. For me and Rich. It's also our business. Not yours; not Billy's; not Charlie's; not Vince's; not Fuzzy's. Ours. And we would both really appreciate it if the rest of you would stay out of it. Dig me?" With that I swept past up the stairs and went to bed.

Chapter 6~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Rich had said he call me the next morning, but in boy time that meant 12:30 in the afternoon. Ace glowered at me over the table where he was eating a sandwich. We hadn't spoken since last night, when I had left him standing in the living room.

"I wish he'd stop looking at me like he's gonna jump the table and stab me." I told Rich over the phone.

"Who," he asked, "Ace?" I gave a sigh of desperation to show him how dumb his question was.

 "No, Beaver Cleaver. Of course Ace, who else wants to kill us right now?!" Rich laughed softly.

"I guess Ace didn't take our news to well, huh? What did your Aunt Polly think?"

"She was fine with. She thinks 'you're such a nice boy'. That's a direct quote."  I told him.

"Yeah, my mom said the same thing about you. Well, minus the boy part. And my brothers and sister are thrilled. Especially Shelly, you know how much she likes you." I smiled. Almost everyone was happy with us. Now what about our friends?

"What about the other guys; do they know yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, I ran into them last night and told 'em. They seemed ok with it, they weren't exactly shocked. Said they knew it was gonna happen sooner or later and they tried to tell Ace, but he wouldn't listen." I looked over my shoulder. Ace was gone from the table. I wondered where he had gone, when I heard the front door slam. 

"Hey, Rich, is it ok if I come over?" I heard him sigh in to the phone.

"No, darlin, I don't think you should. My Pop's kinda on a mean streak. He's drunk and he didn't go to work today. How about if I pick you up and we go somewhere?" I thought about this for a second.

"OK, it sounds good. Can you be here in 10 minutes?"

"Yeah," he said, "10 minutes" While I waited for him to pick me up, I thought about our lives. I really liked Rich; maybe I was even in love with him. I didn't know. I didn't want to tell him I loved him. I was way too prideful to do that. I didn't know what to do. And this thing with Ace was just a big mess. We had never been in a fight. I loved him like he was my own brother. He would just have to understand that I wasn't the little girl who used to come with pigtails in her hair asking for a band-aid for her knees anymore. He would just have to understand that. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________                       The next two months passed without incident. I spent my all my time with Rich. I hardly saw Ace, and when we did see each

other we never spoke. It was all very stressful. A stress that Rich began to help me forget after we had been together for a month, but I won't go into that!! Now school would be starting back the next day and I was very nervous. Rich was the only Cobra that didn't go to school and Fuzzy had promised him that the others would look out for me. But that night as prepared for bed, there was a knock on my door. Thinking it was Aunt Polly, I called 

"Come in!" The door opened and who entered? Not Aunt Polly, but Ace. I have to admit I was more than a little shocked. 

"What is it Ace? Come to chew me out again?" Surprisingly, he smiled.

 "No, I….I came to, uh, sayimsorryforfightingwithyou." He said the last part in a rush. I gave him a puzzled look.

"Beg pardon? I didn't quite catch the last part, Ace." He sighed.

"I said, I'm sorry for fighting with you. You were right. What goes on between you and Eyeball is none of my business. Can you forgive me Mart? Please?" My heart went out to him. I couldn't help it.

"Yes, Ace I forgive you." I said, crossing the room to give him a hug. He smiled.

"Good, because I got you something." He held out a piece of paper that looked like a flyer. I took it from him and read it out loud.

"Madam Clair's Ballet Dancer's Academy. A dancing school? You got me a flyer for a dancing school?"

"Well yeah," he said. "I know you stopped dancing when Aunt Lynn left, but I thought you might wanna start again. Besides, you can't back out because I already signed you up and paid for your classes. All your classes." I looked at him

"You did *what*???" He looked kinda sheepish.

"I signed you up for dance classes and I paid for all of them."

 "Ace, thank you, but where did you get that kinda money and how did you know I wanted to dance again?" I asked.

"Well I got a job, that's what I've been doing all summer while you charmed my best friend. And I just had a feeling you wanted to start dancing again. Especially after I saw you practicing in the basement last week." He replied. I thought about this. 

"Oh. Now speaking of your best friend, have you by any chance made up with him?" Ace smiled again. 

"I just got off the phone with him. He also agreed about the dance classes; so did the rest of the Cobras, especially Fuzzy."

I smiled again. We were doing a lot of smiling that night.

"Well, I guess we better get to bed. School tomorrow. Thank God this is my last year!" Ace said, walking out of my room.

"Yeah, zippity doo-da for you!!!" I replied sarcastically after him. As I climbed in bed I thought about school tomorrow. Would I make any friends? I guess I would find out.

                                                                                   *~*~*~*~*

      The next morning dawned bright and early. I climbed out of bed and dressed in my 'back to school outfit', which consisted of new blue jeans; a light blue tee shirt, and high tops. I left my hair down long. Then, with a quick look in the mirror, I headed down stairs to get something to eat. Ace was already at the table. He was gonna drive us to school. We also had to pick up Fuzzy, who lived just around the block from us. Vince was picking up Billy and Charlie. We were going to meet in the school parking lot. As soon as we got to the school, I went to the front office to get my schedule. I was standing there when this white haired woman asked me,

"Can I help you miss?" She seemed kinda snooty to me.

"Um yeah, I'm Martina Merrill and I'm here to get my schedule or somthin." The woman gave me the one over.

"Ah, yes, Miss Merrill. I'm Mrs. Owens, the secretary. Here's your schedule and this is Paris Duncan. She has all your classes and is going to be showing you around." Mrs. Owens handed me my schedule and pointed to a pretty girl with long black hair.

The girl took my arm and led me out of the office. 

"Hi, Paris Duncan." She said, shaking my hand. I smiled at her. Maybe she would become my friend.

"Martina Merrill, but you can call me Marti." She looked around.

"Is it true you're Ace Merrill's cousin and that you go steady with Eyeball Chambers?" Ok what kinda questions were these?

"Yeah, both are true, is either a problem for you?" She looked kind of surprised.

"No not at all. I was just wondering. Um, Marti, do you want to be friends?" 

"Well, I would like that, but what would your friends think?" I asked her. 

"I don't have any friends. I'm a 'geek' in everyone else's opinion. The only friend I ever had moved away this summer."

I have to admit I felt sorry for Paris. 

"Sure Paris, I'd love to be your friend. You can hang out with my friends. As long as you don't mind hanging with the Cobras." She just smiled and said,

"That would be totally boss!! They won't mind me will they?" 

"No of course not," I reassured her." You might even you a boyfriend." She giggled.

"I always did think Billy Tessio was cute." I started to giggle too.

"I know he is." We stopped outside a classroom door.

"Here we are. Homeroom; we have Ms. Harvey. We have her again 6th hour for Math." We walked in to the classroom and found seats just as the bell rang.

"Now class, seeing as this is homeroom, you'll only be in here for 15 minutes." Ms. Harvey said. She was young looking, with honey brown hair and bright blue eyes. 

"I'm going to call role. When your name is called say 'here'.

"Lucas Abernathy"    

"Here"

"Caitlin Adams"

"Here"

"Thomas Ash"

"Here" And on down the line she went, until, finally,

"Martina Merrill" I looked up, kids were actually turning around in their seats to look at me. One girl even whispered

"She even looks like Ace." But I held onto my pride. If they didn't want to like me for who I was, then hunky dory for them.

"Here" We mostly just sat there and talked. The class, if you can even call it that, was just a royal waste of time in my opinion.

Next me and Paris had History with Mr. Bourbon, an older man with thinning hair. Much to my surprise, Billy and Charlie were in this class. I introduced them to Paris and the four of us quickly found seats together. Was it just my imagination or was Billy looking at Paris more then need be? After History, we had girls PE with Mrs. Stevens, a young energetic looking woman.  Then we had Literature, my favorite class, with Mrs. Lear, and finally lunch. Paris and I went through the lunch line and began scanning the room for the Cobras. Finally Paris spotted them at a table by the far wall.

"There they are!" We made our way over to them and sat down. Fuzzy and Vince were the only ones there so far.

"Who's she?" Fuzzy asked looking at Paris.

"This is Paris Duncan. She's gonna start hanging out with us, ok?" They both nodded and said hi. 

"Paris, this is Fuzzy Moore and Vince Deaton." I told her, pointing to each of them.

"Hi" was all she said. By then Billy and Charlie had sat down. I looked around.

"Paris, you know Billy and Charlie. Now where's Ace?" 

"Right here." He said coming up from behind me. I just about jumped out of my seat.

"Ace!!! You scared me to death!!!" He smiled and sat down on the other side of Paris.

"Sorry. Now who's this?" Paris smiled at him.

"I'm Paris Duncan. I take it your Marti's cousin Ace?" he laughed.

"Yeah that'd be me. Nice to know you Paris." We talked our way through lunch. It was over to soon if you ask me. After lunch was Math; Ms. Harvey was the teacher. We also had this class with Fuzzy and Vince. The only thing I learned was Fuzzy's real name is Curtis. After Math was Health; with Mr. Pierce. Then Study Hall; with Mr. Whitlock. Ace was in Study hall with Paris and me. I passed Paris a note asking her what she was doing after school today.

"I have a ballet class." She whispered. I was astounded. What if? Nah, it couldn't be. Or could it?

"I take ballet at Madam Clair's Ballet Dancers Academy." She continued. It was!!! I couldn't believe it! 

"NO WAY!!!" I whispered loudly. More loudly than I meant to, people turned around in their seats and looked at me. Paris giggled.

"No way what?" she asked.

"I have a ballet class this afternoon too!!!" I told her. She grinned

"Boss!!!" She said.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 7~

     The next month and a half went by quickly. Halloween was now nearing. On the Friday night before Halloween, I was getting ready for Paris to come over to spend the night. We had become best friends and besides Rich and Ace, she was my favorite person to be around. I was the only one home when she arrived. After I took her stuff up to my room, she looked around.

"Where is everybody?" I laughed.

"Aunt Polly has to work late and Ace is taking Shannon out." Shannon was this girl who lived over in Mutton that Ace had started going with. She was a pretty girl, with short, dark hair and big brown eyes. She was nice enough, I guess. I had only talked to her a few times.

"So we have the whole house to ourselves?" Paris was asking me. I laughed again.

"Yeah I guess we do."

                                       _"Chalk on the sidewalk, writin on the wall"_

_                                       "Everybody knows it, I love Paul."_

_                                       "Tall Paul, Tall, Paul, Tall Paul. He's my all" _

                                        _"He's my mountain, he's my tree"_

_                                        "We go steady, Paul and me"_

_                                         "Tall Paul, Tall Paul, Tall Paul. He's my all"_

Me and Paris danced and danced to Annette Funicello's song. When the record would end we would just start it again. It was the fun kind of dancing, just hopping around and stuff. When we were tired of dancing, we sat down on the couch.

"Did you watch 'Leave It To Beaver' last night?" Paris asked.

"Yeah, you know I watch it every week." I told her.

"Well, on a scale of one to ten what would you rate Wally?" I had to think about this. In my day, rating Wally Cleaver was a serious matter.

"One to ten? Probably an eleven!" We laughed. He was worth a twelve!

"Yeah, me too." She said.

"I don't know I might rate him a fourteen!" said a voice from behind us, causing me and Paris both to jump. We turned around and there was Billy and Rich standing in the doorway, Billy smiling at his own dumb joke.

I dunno, Billy, I'd prolly give him a 20!" The two boys laughed like they thought it was the funniest thing ever said.

"Shut up you two or you guys can have June!" Paris told them. She had a sassy mouth, in those days that was something a lot of girls didn't have, especially when they were talking to boys.

"Uh, the mom! Your gonna pay for that one Duncan!" Billy grabbed Paris and started tickling her. She shrieked and told him to get off, but I could tell she was really enjoying it. Rich grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him. As we kissed, I noticed that Billy and Paris were to. 'This is good, maybe they'll start going steady!' I thought.


	2. Hard Holidays

Chapter 8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was right, Paris and Billy did start going steady. The two of them, me, and Rich double dated a lot. Soon Thanksgiving was upon us. Ace, Aunt Polly, and me had a nice quiet dinner at home. Well as quiet as you can get when Ace is around. I guess it was the day after that when I noticed something was kinda strange. It was almost my time of the month, if you know what I mean. But nothing happened. I had skipped my time before, so I just chalked it up to teenage hormones. Then I got so busy planning things, I forgot about it. We were all planning to have Christmas dinner together. By "all" I mean us Merrill's, the Chambers, the Duncan's, the Tessio's, the Hogan's, the Moore's, and the Deaton's. A full house, let me tell you!!!We had planned it so every family was going to bring two or three things. Well, anyway, I guess it was, oh, about two weeks into December when I woke up sick three morning's in a row. As I sat beside the toilet on the third morning, wondering what was wrong, it hit me. "No, oh, God, no. Please not that." But I knew it was that. I was pregnant. My first thought was 'Tell Rich, he has to know.' So I made my way down to the phone and called him. He answered on the first ring. "Hello" when I heard his voice I couldn't hold back my sobs any longer. "Marti? Is that you?" he asked in confusion. I wiped way my tears. "Yeah, it's me." "Baby, why are crying? What's wrong? Tell me." "Oh, Rich I have to see you right way. Will you please come over?" "Yeah, I'll be right over." He was at the house in a matter of minutes. I was glad no one else was home. Aunt Polly was at work as usual and Ace was over at Shannon's again. I let Rich in the door, and we sat down on the couch. I started talking before he even had a chance to open his mouth. "It's terrible, so, so terrible." "What is it? What's the matter?" I looked at him. "Rich, I think I'm pregnant. His eyes got really big and he sat there, looking shocked. "But, why, how?" "Why? Because we weren't careful enough. I think you know how it happened. I mean, you were a big part of it." He smirked. "Ha, ha, real funny. You said, you think your pregnant right? Your not one hundred percent sure?" I nodded and he continued. "Well, I have a cousin over in Duron who's a doctor. We can go see him and find out for sure. God, I hope your not." "Me too. But what if I am?" he sighed. "Well, I guess we'll get married and have the baby. There's no way I'm letting you put our child up for adoption." I smiled, thinking about the two of us as parents. "When can we get into see your cousin?" I asked. "Well, let me give Daniel a call. He may be able to fit us in to day." He called his cousin and before I knew it we were on our way to Duron. When we got there Daniel gave me my examination and confirmed my suspicions. "Martina, you're about a month and a half along. I take it this wasn't a planned pregnancy, so I'm not going to tell Richards parents, or you're Aunt. I'm going to leave that up to you two." I nodded and said ok. I found Rich pacing around in the waiting room. When he seen me coming up, he ran up to me and said, "Well, are you?" I just nodded again and burst into to tears. He led me out to the car. "Honey its ok. Everything will be ok." I looked at him. "How are we gonna tell our folks?" he seemed to be in serious thought. "Well wait and tell them at the Christmas dinner. That's when we'll tell them." 


	3. Pass the potatoes please

You would not believe how incredibly scared out of my mind I was. Rich and I talked on the phone every night. We had sworn not to tell anyone until Christmas dinner. We tried to plan how we would tell everyone. "How about this," Rich said "Guess what? I'm pregnant. Please pass the potatoes. How does that sound?" I laughed. "Well, it's the best idea we've come up with." We grew more and more nervous as the day of the Christmas dinner came closer. I was nearly two months along when the day finally came. I only wore jeans and sweatshirts in the winter, and more appropatley now since my stomach was starting to pudge a little. Since this was a special day, Paris and me had bought new dresses. When I woke up that morning I slipped old clothes on. No one was due to be there until about 4:00. We would eat at 6. Ace and I prepared the house and the Chambers were the first to arrive. As soon as they got there, Rich pulled me aside and whispered he needed to talk to me as soon as possible. The other guest began arriving soon after that and I quickly excused myself from the kitchen, where the women were all getting the food ready. Rich and I met in the back room and he told me his idea. "Instead of telling everyone today, why don't we just elope? Then we can explain when we get back." He said. "Richie!" I exclaimed," That's a fabulous idea! Wonder why we didn't think of it before?" Before he could answer, we heard a noise outside the closed door. We opened it to see Shelly running down the hall. "I hope she didn't hear what we we're talking about." I said. Rich shook his head. "She wouldn't understand it even if she did hear." Too soon we were all sitting down to eat. Aunt Polly said grace and we began. Everyone was stuffing their face's when Shelly asked a question that almost made me spit out the bite of ham and cranberry sauce (hey, I was pregnant!) I had just took. "Daddy, what's elope mean?" Mr. Chambers stopped chewing. "Shell, where did you hear that word?" She frowned. "From Richie and Marti." All activity going on around the table stopped and everyone looked at me and Rich. "Do you two have plans the rest of us don't know about?" Aunt Polly asked. I decided to take our original route. I looked around and said, "Guess what? I'm pregnant. Pass the potatoes, please." Nearly everyone's mouth dropped open. Mr. Chambers was the one to speak first. "You little harlot! If you'd been taught to keep your legs together, this wouldn't have happened!" I felt my face get hot. Rich grabbed his eggnog and threw it in his dad's face. "Don't you ever talk to her like that again, you filthy drunk!" he yelled. Mrs. Chambers screamed and little Shelly started to cry. Mr. Chambers grabbed Rich by the collar. "I'll teach you, ya little punk!" I'd had enough. "Stop it! Stop it all of you!" They all stopped and looked at me. "Me and Rich we know we made a mistake, but were willing to take it. We want to get married and have this baby. That's what were going to do. If you all forbid it, then we'll run away. We're taking our plan through all the way whether you like it or not." Once everyone saw how determined we were, they relented and agreed to help us with our wedding. Ace finally spoke up. "Eyeball, man, how do you plan to support her?" I hadn't thought of that. How were we going to get by? Rich quickly answered that question. "Well, I haven't told anyone this, but I've been working a job. I've been roofing in Chamberlain. For the past four months. That's what I do all day, while the others are in school." I have to say we were all surprised. I know I was. 


	4. The Wedding

We sat the wedding date for January 23rd. The invitation list wasn't real big. We had sent invitations to people in my family and people in Rich's family. Of course, we all the Cobras and their immediate families. Chris had approached me and asked if it was ok if he invited his friends Gordie and Teddy.  
  
"Yeah, but Chris what about Vern?" I asked him. He smiled.  
  
"Vern's already coming, remember?" he said.  
  
I had forgot that Vern would be with the Tessio's. That just goes to show you how nervous I was. Rich and I had decided that Ace would best his best man and Chris and Nick his groomsmen. Paris was going to be my Maid of Honor, and Ace's girlfriend Shannon would be the Brides maid, and Shelly was going to the flower girl. Everything was falling in to place. Mrs. Chambers and Aunt Polly were in charge of putting the reception together. The one thing I needed was a dress. But Aunt Polly took care of that. She called me into her room one night.  
  
"Marti, you know we don't have the money to buy you a new wedding dress, or the time to make one." I nodded. I knew all of this.  
  
"So" she continued "I was wondering if you'd like to have my old wedding dress. It was always my dream for my daughter to wear my dress, but since I never had a daughter, I want you to wear it." She handed me the beautiful white dress.  
  
"Oh, Aunt Polly, it's beautiful. Of course I'll wear it!" She smiled.  
  
"It can also go down for your something old."  
  
"What do ya mean?" I asked her. She laughed.  
  
"Don't you know? Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue." She told me.  
  
"Oh yeah! Well let's see, the wedding dress is something old, I'm borrowing Paris's diamond earrings, my garter has blue on it. Now for something new."  
  
"How about this." Said a voice from behind me. It was Ace. And he was holding a gold chain necklace.  
  
"Ace, is that for me!?" he nodded and I started to cry. I couldn't help it. He hugged me and when I looked up at him, he said  
  
"My baby cousin is all grown up."  
  
In the days that followed, there was no time for tears. The wedding was a week away. I was scared out of my mind. Everyone we had invited was coming, I had my dress, the bridesmaids had their dresses, and Rich and I had our rings. Thank goodness Mr. Duncan was a jeweler; he gave us the rings for half the original price.  
  
The day of the wedding dawned bright and beautiful. Snow covered the ground and everything was perfect. I lay in bed for a few minutes, and then there was a knock on my door. Ace came in, already dressed in his best suit, carrying a tray of food.  
  
"Breakfast in bed for the blushing bride." He said. I managed a weak smile  
  
"I'm too nervous to eat anything." I told him. He shook his head.  
  
"Come on now, you've got to eat a little bit. We don't want you passing out from hunger half way through the ceremony." That thought was enough to make me clean the plate. After I ate, I got up, and showered. By the time I got out of the shower Paris was there to help me with my dress, hair and make- up. All too soon, it was time to go to the Church. When we got there, everyone else was there. The bridesmaids, Shelly and groomsmen were standing in the back corridor, waiting for the cue so they could start up the isle. I guess someone had told Chris to tell the organist when I arrived, because when I walk through the door he waved at him and said  
  
"She's here!"  
  
They paired up and formed a line, Paris and Chris, Shannon and Nick, then little Shelly with her basket of rose petals. I held my breath and clutched my bouquet. I could see Rich, Ace, and the minister up at the front of the church. They started the music and Paris and Chris linked arms and started down the isle. Then Shannon and Nick went, followed by Shelly, who was dropping handfuls of flowers as she went. The they reached the front; boys went to the right and girls to the left. When Shelly reached the front, the organist started playing the Wedding March and the entire congregation stood up as I made my way down the isle. I could see the Cobras and Vern, Teddy, and Gordie all dressed in their best suits, sitting in a pew about half way up. As I passed them. I smiled. After what seemed to be hours, though I'm sure it was only minutes; I reached the front and stood next to Rich. The minister went though his little speech and then the vows and rings. As Rich slipped the ring on my finger, I had tears in my eyes. I looked at him and seen he did to.  
  
"By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." The minister said.  
  
Rich and me kissed and the guest clapped and whistled. I even heard a few "Oh-la-la's" which I'm sure came from the Cobras. Surprise, surprise.  
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Mr. and Mrs. Richard Alexander Chambers!" The minister continued. The guest clapped again, them made their way to congratulate us. I don't think I've ever gotten so many hugs.  
  
Later on, at the reception, we danced and danced. I danced with all the Cobras, Nick, Chris, Chris's three friends, and even Mr. Chambers, who told me  
  
"Welcome to the family Marti." I was surprised, seeing as how much he had been against the idea.  
  
"Thank you Mr. Chambers." I told him. He laughed.  
  
"Can you find it in your heart to forgive me and call me Dad or at least Fred?" he said.  
  
"Of course I forgive you..dad." I smiled at him. He hugged me and then the song ended and our dance was over. Later on I saw him slip an envelope in with the pile of gifts. Later when Rich opened it, we found a hundred dollar bill inside and a note. Rich read it out loud.  
  
"Dear Richard, Please put this money towards something for the baby. I want my first grand child to have the best life we can give him or her. I also wanted to say I'm sorry for being so against you and Marti's love for one another. The truth is, I was jealous. Jealous that your lives are beginning and praying you don't make the same mistakes I've made in mine. I know I haven't been a good father to you kids or a good husband to Diane. I hope you can find it to forgive me and to be the best husband and father you can. I love you both, Dad"  
  
"Wow" Rich said We were spending our first night in our new house. The Cobras and their families had all chipped in and surprised us with it. It wasn't very big and it was old, but it was still nice and it was ours. I couldn't help feeling my life was perfect. 


	5. The months that follow

I stood under the shower, letting the hot water hit me. I knew I needed to get out, because Rich would be home from work soon, and he would be expecting supper. It was April now and I was 6 months along, you could definitely tell. My stomach was quite round. When we would lay in bed at night, Rich loved to rub my stomach and talk to the baby. I couldn't wait for him to get home, because I had gone to the doctor earlier that morning and found out the gender of the baby. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped my housecoat around myself.  
  
"Honey, I'm home!" Rich called that everyday when he got home from work.  
  
I hurried down the stairs towards him and wrapped my arms around him.  
  
"Well, I'm glad to see you too, Marti!" he said, laughing.  
  
"No, guess what?" I asked him. He smiled at me.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"I found out the gender of the baby at the doctor!" I told him.  
  
"Oh my gosh! Well is it a boy or a girl?"  
  
"It's a.." I decided to tease him a little bit by keeping him suspense. Rich grabbed my hand.  
  
"TELL ME!!!" he yelled excitedly.  
  
"Girl" I finished He grabbed me and started to dance me around the living room.  
  
"A girl, a girl, a precious little baby girl!" he sang  
  
"Wait, we still need to pick out a name!" I told him.  
  
We had begun picking out names with this baby name book Ace had bought for us, but we hadn't found one we could both agree on. I grabbed the book off a shelf and we sat down to look it over. We looked and looked. Finally I found one I really liked. "There, that one. Rose." I said.  
  
"Rose Chambers. I like that, it sounds nice. Rose it is!" Rich said.  
  
"Now we need a middle name for her." I said.  
  
"I have an idea. Rose start's with R like my name, so why don't we find a middle name that starts with M like your name?"  
  
"Rich, that's a wonderful idea!!!" I exclaimed. He smiled and we got to work searching for a good M name.  
  
"How about this one?" he said. "Melinda? Rose Melinda."  
  
"Rose Melinda Chambers. I like that, it's really pretty." I told him.  
  
Our baby had a name. Rose Melinda Chambers. We called all of our friends and family just to tell them we had (finally) settled on a name. Rose Melinda. 


	6. The baby

The next three months passed without incident. I was now in my ninth month.. And as big as a beached whale. We had everything ready, seeing as the baby would be coming any day now. The Cobras, Paris, Chris, Nick, Gordie, Vern, and Teddy were coming over that day to help us finish the Nursery. I hadn't seen Gordie, Vern or Teddy for awhile, so when they came they would be in for a bit of a shock. I was huge. When they walked in with Chris the three of them just sort of stared.  
  
"I know, I know. My stomach's fat, my arms are fat, I can't see my feet, but I hear they're really fat too." I told them.  
  
"They are..not" Chris said "That's my niece! Right here." He patted my midsection.  
  
"When my Aunt was pregnant with my cousin, she always let me feel her stomach." Gordie told me.  
  
"Its neat isn't it?" I asked him. Teddy looked confused.  
  
"What do you mean?" he asked.  
  
"You've never felt a baby in it's womb before Teddy?" he shook his head and I took his hand placing it on my stomach. He looked around like Rich was going to jump out of the closet and kill him.  
  
"I'm not to sure Eyeball wants me feeling all over his wife's stomach." He said.  
  
"Nonsense! Rich doesn't care; he does it all the time. So do the other boys."  
  
"Well, ok, if you sure." He said I glided his hand to the top of my stomach.  
  
"Fell that hard spot right there?" he nodded. "That's her head."  
  
"And you feel that little bump, bump, bump? That's where her heart is."  
  
I glided Teddy's hand farther down and held it there. All of a sudden his eyes got even more huge behind his glasses.  
  
"She kicked. The baby, it kicked my hand!" he exclaimed.  
  
"I know. Isn't it amaze." I stopped because I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. "Oh! Oh, my!"  
  
"What? Whats wrong?" Gordie asked me.  
  
"Nothing's wrong. But I think the baby's coming." I told them.  
  
"AUGHHHHH!!!! THE BABY? TEDDY YOUR FEELING ALL OVER MARTI'S STOMACH PUT HER IN LABOUR!!!!!! AUGHHHHHH!!!!" I can officially say Vern was freaking out. That was also the moment my water broke.  
  
"AUGHHHHHHHH!!!!!! SHE"S LEAKING!!! IT'S A WATER BABY!!!"  
  
"SHUT UP VERN!!!!" Chris, Teddy, and Gordie yelled.  
  
"EYEBALL!" Chris yelled "EYEBALL, ACE YOU GUYS BETTER GET IN HERE!"  
  
Rich, Ace, Paris and the rest of the Cobras came running in.  
  
"What is it?" Ace asked.  
  
"The.. baby's. ..coming.." I panted from the couch.  
  
"THE BABY!!!!" everyone yelled. They helped me to our car.  
  
We got to the hospital fairly quickly and before I knew it there was a doctor standing over me.  
  
"The only people I want in this room are the patient and the father. The rest of you will have to wait in the waiting room." He ushered everyone but Rich out.  
  
"Ok, Mrs. Chambers, I want you to push." Two hours later, he was saying the same thing.  
  
"Come on push, were almost there. Push! Ok, I can see a head! Push!"  
  
It was very painful. Now I knew why my mother was always going on about it.  
  
"Mrs. Chambers, I'm going to ask you to push one more time."  
  
"No I can't! I'll just walk around with this baby inside me forever!"  
  
"Marti, no! It wouldn't be a very attractive look!" Rich told me.  
  
"Ok, one more push. But that's it!"  
  
I pushed as hard as I could. Then I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. A baby crying. My baby. When they handed me the baby, I looked at her.  
  
"So you're the one who's been kicking me."  
  
Everyone came in the room then. I was surprised to see. Gordie, Vern and Teddy were still there, waiting for a turn to hold the baby Rosey. When Chris held her he cooed down at her.  
  
"Hi, Rosey. I'm your Uncle Chris. We've all been waiting for you." That was the happiest moment of my life. 


	7. 15 years down the road

It was now 1975, fifteen years later. I was 30 years old and Rich was 32. Little Rosey, who wasn't so little anymore, was now 15. We also had son, Matthew Randall, who was 12. Rich stilled worked as a roofer and I was a housewife. I was fixing supper one evening, waiting for Rich to pick Matt up from soccer practice and Rose from cheerleading on his way home from work, listening to the radio.  
  
"Listen baby, ain't no mountain high Ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough baby Just call, no matter where you are, no matter how far Just call my name I'll be there in hurry, you don't have to worry Cause baby there ain't no mountain high enough Ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough To keep me from gettin to you!"  
  
I was dancing around the kitchen and singing. I didn't notice Rich or the kids behind me until Rich grabbed me from behind, whirled me around and Sang the last line to me. The kids laughed, they thought it was SO funny. Until we kissed.  
  
"Ew!! Mom, dad, no slobber sloping in front of us please!" Matt said. Rose nodded her head in agreement.  
  
"Yeah, its like, all gross and stuff" she added.  
  
"And stuff!" Rich teased her. She was, and still is, daddy's little girl.  
  
Right after she was first born, he started always bringing her gifts and stuff home. All of our friends were so jealous. They loved Rose like she was their own. We still seen them a lot despite the separate directions our lives took. Paris and Billy married right after Paris graduated. They had 10 year old twin girls, Erica and Heather. Charlie never married, but had a 5 year old son named Jason. Ace and Shannon married, they have three boys, Michael; 12 Andrew; 10, and John; 8 and a little girl, Dakota, who was 6. Fuzzy married this girlfriend of his from college (yes he made into college) named Leslie. They have a 7 year old daughter named Sierra. Finally, Vince and his wife Mindy. They have a son named Shane, who was 10. We saw a lot of al of them, since they still lived around these parts All and all our lives had turned out pretty good. 


	8. Epilogue

A/N ~~~  
  
Hi, people! Thanks for all your great reviews; I'm glad y'all like my story so much! Anyway, some of you are probably wondering why I didn't say what happened to Chris, Gordie, Vern, And Teddy in my last chapter and the reason is because, everyone already knows what happened to them! Ok, now that we have that cleared up, this is my last chapter. Don't forget to read and review my other story, 'Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart' Now on with the story!  
  
  
  
September 5, 1985~~~~  
  
Rich hung up the phone with tears in his eyes.  
  
"That was mamma. Chris, was, Chris was stabbed in the throat about an hour and a half ago. He died a few minutes later."  
  
This time he just broke down, sobbing "My baby brother, my poor baby brother" over and over. I tried my best to comfort him. It killed me to see my husband in so much pain.  
  
"I guess I better call Rose and Matt. They'll want to know. Do you know when the funeral will be?" I asked him  
  
"The day, the day after tomorrow."  
  
He was still crying and he seemed so devastated. It was no wonder; him and Chris had become really close, despite their childhood differences. We were all so proud of Chris. He had made it all the way through law school, married the sweetest woman you ever wanted to meet, her name is Lindsey, and had two beautiful kids, a boy, Dwayne, and a girl, Amanda. Dwayne was 14 and Mandy was 12. I just couldn't believe that Chris was gone. I remembered back to the first day I met him. He was sitting on his front porch steps with Gordie, Vern and Teddy. Gordie had become a writer; Matt was a very big fan of his stories. Vern was operating at the lumber yard, we saw him a few months ago when we redid the floor in the bathroom. Teddy did odd and end jobs around Castle Rock, picking up work wherever he could. He was now working as one on Rich's roofing crew. I wondered if we'd see any of them at Chris's funeral. I just didn't know. There are so many bad people in the world, why did God have to take Chris? 


End file.
